– U.S. markets was less pronounced — the Dow Jones industrial average fell 3.59 percent

– Since Sept. 1, about $16.3 trillion worth of global stock market value has been erased.

Oil

– Gloom about economic growth translated to low expectations for oil consumption. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries yesterday announced a cut of 1.5 million barrels a day in output — a move that still failed to arrest the slide in crude prices.

Copper

– Meanwhile, copper prices fell to a three-year low.

– China consumes more than one-quarter of the world’s copper supply, and a slowdown there has dampened world prices.

Dollar

– Investors around the world fled stocks and rushed to the relative safety of the U.S. dollar by pouring money into 30-year Treasury bonds, a refuge in times of uncertainty. That drove down the value of foreign currencies, from the ruble to the rupee and the zloty to the peso, forcing central banks to spend billions of dollars to prevent even further deterioration.

= Although a drop in oil prices has put more money into the hands of consumers worldwide, analysts fear that the shrinking size of stock portfolios and falling house values will constrain consumer spending anyway.

= Lower gasoline prices would act like a more than $150 billion stimulus for U.S. consumers. But that could be more than offset by a shrinking sense of wealth, especially among the top 20 percent of wage earners, who account for the bulk of equity investments and 40 percent of consumer spending.

= A credit squeeze can lead to a drop in U.S. spending, which can curb demand for Chinese exports, which can curtail demand for commodities.